Did You Know...

A.M. Mora y Leon tipped me to this video last night of Chavista thugs confiscating farms across Venezuela. A.M. notes the parallels to what Lenin, Mao and Castro did: “But this time, some farmer had the presence of mind to turn on his cellphone camera and film the thuggery as it happened. This makes it really different. Can you imagine what things would be like if Kulaks had had a cellphone camera? It’s incredible what dictators have gotten away with and might not with this clip:”

A group of red shirt-wearing Chavista thugs show up at a farm and seize the farm in the name of the government, under the pretext that the 103 hectare farm is “idle land” and that the law allows them to take it over for “food production.”

The farmer protests politely, explaining that he’s been raising cattle on his farm for 23 years. He is rebuffed by another guy, who says, “this is not going to be a debate; this is a public act approved by the Venezuelan people. I’m governor and I’m here to ensure public order. There won’t be a debate, I ask you to listen to the document, after which the public will take charge of the land.”

When the farmer’s wife protests, he tells her to discuss it in court.

Chavez controls the judiciary.

The farmer is told to sign the form, and then to gather the animals so they can be accounted for.

When another one of the people who lived at the farm tries to ask a question, the man who identified himself as the governor insists that “this is not a debate, this is not a meeting, and if there’s any disruption, the public force is here,” pointing to the crowd in red shirts.